Optimized drug supply logistical techniques for a central drug distribution center

1. A method in a computing system for ordering a drug, comprising: for each of a plurality of hospitals supplied with the drug via a Central Drug Distribution Center (CDC): maintaining, in a memory, a storage device, or both of the computing system: a first data structure comprising a plurality of entries, each entry corresponding to a dispense of a dose of a drug by that hospital, each entry comprising an indication of whether the dose was administered to an inpatient or an outpatient and a purchase ID of a purchase to which the dispense has been applied; and a second data structure comprising a plurality of entries, each entry corresponding to a seller price of a drug for that hospital at an undiscounted per-dose price, an inpatient discounted per-dose price, and an outpatient discounted per-dose price; determining a quantity of the drug and a container size that should be obtained for distribution through the CDC; in response to the determination: for each of the plurality of hospitals: (a) identifying a first seller from the second data structure having a lowest undiscounted per-dose price at which the drug is available to the hospital; (b) determining an inpatient dispense count and an outpatient dispense count based on contents of the first data structure, the inpatient dispense count indicating a number of doses of the drug administered to inpatients, the outpatient dispense count indicating a number of doses of the drug administered to outpatients; (c) where the hospital's inpatient dispense count is at least equal to the container size in which the drug is available: identifying a second seller from the second data structure having a lowest inpatient discounted per-dose price at which the drug is available to the hospital; (d) where the hospital's outpatient dispense count is at least equal to the container size in which the drug is available: identifying a third seller from the second data structure having a lowest outpatient discounted per-dose price at which the drug is available to the hospital and from which the drug has previously been purchased in the container size at the undiscounted per-dose price; and (e) selecting, among the first seller, the second seller, and the third seller, a seller having the lowest per-dose price for the determined container size at which the drug is available to the hospital; initializing an empty set of planned orders for the drug; until the determined quantity is fully allocated across the plurality of hospitals, repeating the following steps (f) through (i): (f) selecting a hospital whose seller has the lowest per-dose price the selecting based in part on a corresponding dispense count of the selected hospital; (g) adding to the set of planned orders a planned order to purchase a container of the drug of the container size from the seller of the selected hospital; (h) decrementing the corresponding dispense count of the selected hospital by the container size; and (i) repeating steps (a) through (e) for the selected hospital to re-select the lowest per-dose price for the determined container size at which the drug is available to the selected hospital; and causing each of the planned orders of the set to be submitted to the corresponding seller.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: for each submitted order, updating the first data structure for the hospital to whose seller the order was submitted, wherein updating the first data structure comprises: where the submitted order is an order at an inpatient discounted price, setting the purchase IDs of a number of entries that correspond to the container size to a new purchase ID assigned to the order, each of the entries corresponding to a dispense of the drug to an inpatient; and where the submitted order is an order at an outpatient discounted price, setting the purchase IDs of the number of entries that corresponds to the container size to a new purchase ID assigned to the order, each of the entries corresponding to a dispense of the drug to an outpatient.

3. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having contents adapted to cause a computing system to perform a method, the method comprising: for each of a plurality of medical facilities served by a Central Drug Distribution Center (CDC), maintaining in a memory, a storage device, or both of the computing System a first data structure comprising a plurality of entries, each entry corresponding to a dispense of a dose of a drug by that medical facility, each entry comprising an indication whether the dose was administered to an inpatient or an outpatient and a purchase ID of a purchase to which the dispense has been applied, and a second data structure comprising a plurality of entries, each entry corresponding to a supplier price of a drug for that medical facility at an undiscounted per-dose price, an inpatient discounted per-dose price, and an outpatient discounted per-dose price; in response to determining that a distinguished quantity of a distinguished drug should be obtained for distribution through the CDC: identifying, based on the contents of the second data structure, a lowest cost for the distinguished quantity of the distinguished drug offered to any of the plurality of medical facilities served by the CDC by any supplier of a plurality of suppliers among, for each of the plurality of medical facilities: the undiscounted price level; where a value of a first counter indicating doses of the distinguished drug administered by the medical facility to inpatients that have not been used as a basis for reordering the distinguished drug at a discounted inpatient price level is at least equal to the distinguished quantity, the discounted inpatient price level; and where a value of a second counter indicating doses of the distinguished drug administered by the medical facility to outpatients that have not been used as a basis for reordering the distinguished drug at a discounted outpatient price level is at least equal to the distinguished quantity, the discounted outpatient price level; wherein the values of the first counter and the second counters are determined based on contents of the first data structure; and ordering the distinguished quantity of the distinguished drug from a supplier of the plurality of suppliers corresponding to the identified cost at the price level corresponding to the identified cost on behalf of the medical facility to which the distinguished drug is offered at the identified cost.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3 , the method further comprising: where the distinguished drug is ordered at the discounted outpatient price level, updating the first data structure for the medical facility on behalf of which the distinguished drug was ordered, updating the first data structure comprising setting the purchase IDs of a number of entries that correspond to the distinguished quantity to a new purchase ID assigned to the order, each of the entries corresponding to a dispense of the distinguished drug to an outpatient.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 4 , the method further comprising: where the distinguished drug is ordered at the discounted inpatient price level, updating the first data structure for the medical facility on behalf of which the distinguished drug was ordered, updating the first data structure comprising setting the purchase IDs of the number of entries that correspond to the distinguished quantity to a new purchase ID assigned to the order, each of the entries corresponding to a dispense of the distinguished drug to an inpatient.

6. A computing system, comprising: at least one processor; and a memory having contents adapted to cause the computing system to, when the contents are executed by the at least one processor, perform a method, the method comprising: for a plurality of medical facilities served by a Central Drug Distribution Center (CDC), maintaining in the memory of the computing system a first data structure comprising a plurality of entries, each entry corresponding to a dispense of a dose of a drug by that medical facility, each entry comprising an indication whether the dose was administered to an inpatient or an outpatient and a purchase ID of a purchase to which the dispense has been applied and a second data structure comprising a plurality of entries, each entry corresponding to a supplier price of a drug for that medical facility at an undiscounted per-dose price, an inpatient discounted per-dose price, and an outpatient discounted per-dose price; in response to determining that a distinguished quantity of a distinguished drug should be obtained for distribution through the CDC: identifying the lowest cost, based on the contents of the second data structure, for the distinguished quantity of the distinguished drug offered to any of the plurality of medical facilities served by the CDC by any supplier of a plurality of suppliers among, for each of the plurality of medical facilities: the undiscounted price level; where a value of a first counter indicating doses of the distinguished drug administered by the medical facility to inpatients that have not been used as a basis for reordering the distinguished drug at a discounted inpatient price level is at least equal to the distinguished quantity, the discounted inpatient price level; and where a value of a second counter indicating doses of the distinguished drug administered by the medical facility to outpatients that have not been used as a basis for reordering the distinguished drug at a discounted outpatient price level is at least equal to the distinguished quantity, the discounted outpatient price level; wherein the values of the first counter and the second counters are determined based on contents of the first data structure; and ordering the distinguished quantity of the distinguished drug from a supplier of the plurality of suppliers corresponding to the identified cost at the price level corresponding to the identified cost on behalf of the medical facility to which the distinguished drug is offered at the identified cost.

7. The computing system of claim 6 , the method further comprising: where the distinguished drug is ordered at the discounted outpatient price level, updating the first data structure for the medical facility on behalf of which the distinguished drug was ordered, updating the first data structure comprising setting the purchase IDs of a number of entries that corresponds to the distinguished quantity to a new purchase ID assigned to the order, each of the entries corresponding to a dispense of the distinguished drug to an outpatient.

8. The computing system of claim 6 , the method further comprising: where the distinguished drug is ordered at the discounted inpatient price level, updating the first data structure for the medical facility on behalf of which the distinguished drug was ordered, updating the first data structure comprising setting the purchase IDs of a number of entries that corresponds to the distinguished quantity to a new purchase ID assigned to the order, each of the entries corresponding to a dispense of the distinguished drug to an inpatient.